


heartbeat song

by sunshineforthesoul



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Bitty Doesn't Play Hockey, Getting Together, M/M, bitty figure skated in college, but he stopped after, he does play hockey, jack isn't a professional hockey player, just not in the nhl
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-28
Updated: 2019-05-28
Packaged: 2020-03-26 09:59:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19003489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sunshineforthesoul/pseuds/sunshineforthesoul
Summary: Until tonight I only dreamed about youI can't believe I ever breathed without youBaby you make me feel alive and brand newBring it one more timeor: Bitty is taking a breakup really hard and Jack wants to make him smile





	heartbeat song

**Author's Note:**

  * For [writingonpostcards](https://archiveofourown.org/users/writingonpostcards/gifts).



> also on [tumblr](https://sunshineeforthesoul.tumblr.com/post/185204409645/heartbeat-song)
> 
> title taken from + story inspired by kelly clarkson's “heartbeat song”
> 
> check, please! and its characters belong to ngozi

_You, where the hell did you come from?  
You’re a different, different kind of fun  
And I’m so used to feeling numb_

Eric Bittle sighed, twirling the straw in his drink around the rim of his glass with one hand, chin resting in his other. He knew he shouldn’t have gone out, but he wanted to be a good friend, so he’d let Nursey convince him to go clubbing.

At least Nursey was having a good time. Bitty had caught glimpses of him getting pretty cozy with a red-head over on the dance floor. Based on the thumbs up and wink Nursey had given him over the red-head’s shoulder, it was likely Bitty was not going to leave with everything he’d come in with.

 _Good for him,_ he thought. Nursey had been bugging Bitty, saying he just needed to get back out there, and surely he’d be able to find someone, but Bitty couldn’t bring himself to do it. It’d been months since the breakup, but it had hit him pretty hard. 

Part of him was disappointed in himself. He should be over it by now, right? Why did he have to hold onto such painful things? At one point in his life, he would’ve had a great time here. 

He would’ve had a few drinks, probably danced a little, maybe even been in a situation similar to Nursey’s.

Instead, here he was, sitting at the bar, wondering if Nursey would notice or care if he slipped out. (He was leaning towards no.)

With impeccable timing, he received a text from Nursey:

Not coming back to apartment tonight ;)

_Wonderful._

He put his phone back in his pocket. He’d finish his drink and get out of here. Go home. Bake some self pity snickerdoodles. Try not to cry. Honestly, he’d consider that a good night. 

“Excuse my reach,” a man said from behind him. 

A body came into Bitty’s peripheral vision, and he looked up to see an extremely handsome man with very blue eyes leaning over him.

For a moment, Bitty forgot how to speak. Really, he forgot how to do anything other than stare like a deer in headlights at this man.

After a few seconds, Bitty pulled himself together enough to reply. “Oh, sorry, let me move out of your way.”

“It’s alright, you don’t have to move. I’m just grabbing a drink for a friend.” The man sat down on the stool next to him. “My name’s Jack.”

Bitty’s heart skipped. No way could this guy be interested in talking to him. 

_“Bits, you gotta try,”_ he heard Nursey’s voice in his head. _“You can’t mope forever.”_

“Bit- I mean Bittle. Eric Bittle. My friends nicknamed me Bitty.”

Jack smiled. “And what brings you out tonight, Bittle?”

“My friend dragged me here, who by the way,” Bitty turned and scanned the crowd for Nursey, “appears to be gone.” He shrugged. “I was thinking about leaving soon anyways.”

“You’re not having a good time.” He didn’t say it as if he were asking a question.

“Well… no, I’m not.” Bitty pushed his glass away from him. He didn’t know what made him admit such a thing to someone who was virtually a stranger. 

Jack had a thoughtful twinkle in his eye. Bitty didn’t know if it was a good or bad thing. “I have an idea. Wait here while I give my friend his drink.”

Before Bitty could say anything, Jack slid off the stool and disappeared into the mass of bodies. 

_What the hell just happened?_

Out of all the ways he’d foreseen this night going, this was definitely not one of them. 

_Okay, keep it together Bittle. Do_ not _ruin this for yourself._

He felt compelled to impress Jack, which was strange considering he didn’t even really know the guy. He could be a jerk. He could be straight. Then again, he’d been the one to approach Bitty first. 

Within a few minutes, Jack popped out of the crowd, with a jacket draped over his arm. 

“Are you ready?” he asked.

“For what?” 

The corner of Jack’s mouth lifted. “To have some fun.”

  


* * *

  


_I, I wasn’t even gonna go out  
But I never would’ve had a doubt  
If I’d have known where I’d be now_

“I cannot believe you just bought me a pair of skates,” Bitty said as they walked down the hallway towards Rink C.

“Do you own skates?” Jack said, waving to one of the janitors passing by. 

“Not currently.”

“Do you think you can skate without them?”

“...No.”

“So it was necessary. Besides,” the twinkle in Jack’s eye returned, “I predict there will be more ice skating in your future.”

The automatic lights came on, and Bitty squinted as his eyes adjusted. He hadn’t been on the ice in a while. Not since his figure skating days, which he’d left behind in college. 

Rather than going into the locker rooms, Jack kicked off his shoes by the edge of the rink, and sat down to pull on his skates.

“Do you need help getting them on?” he asked.

“No, thank you. I think I got it,” Bitty replied, sitting down next to him. He at least remembered how to lace up his skates. 

When he went to stand, he wobbled, nearly falling over. Jack grabbed his arms, holding him steady. 

“I can help you, if you don’t know how to skate,” Jack said. 

Bitty considered his options. He could tell Jack that he had been a figure skater at one point, or… 

Jack’s strong grip on his arm made up his mind. 

“That would be nice,” Bitty replied.

Jack slid out first, spinning around and holding out his hand. Bitty took it, and stepped out onto the ice. 

A flood of nostalgia rushed through him, and he inhaled the crisp cold. Even though it’d been years, he felt like he’d never left. 

“Okay, so skating,” Jack began, bringing Bitty back to the present. He stared blankly at him for a second. “I don’t think I’ve ever had to explain to anyone how to skate.” 

“That’s alright. You could just kinda pull me around, and I’ll do my best to keep my balance.” 

Jack took Bitty’s other hand, squeezing both of them. “Okay. Hang on tight.” 

_Will do._

The first couple of laps were awkward, and Bitty almost ended up on his backside, but they lapsed into a comfortable pace and Bitty’s anxiety from earlier slowly melted away.

“So Bittle,” Jack said. “What do you like to do for fun?”

“Bake, mostly.” 

“What do you like to bake?”

“Anything and everything. Cakes, brownies, cookies, muffins, you name it. I would say my specialty, though, is pie.” A thought popped into his head. “Do you want to come back to my place after this? I think I have some leftover pecan pie.”

One of Jack’s eyebrows shot up. “That’s a first.” 

“Really?” Bitty grinned. “No one’s ever invited you to indulge in delicious, homemade pie after meeting you in a club? Shocker.” 

Jack’s eyes darted down to the ice, then back up to him. A crease formed in between his furrowed eyebrows as he stared curiously at Bitty. 

It took Bitty a second to notice that Jack had let go of his hands, and they’d sped up substantially as they were talking. They slowed to a stop, and a moment of silence passed between them. 

“You…” Jack tilted his head at Bitty. “You’ve skated before, haven’t you. Otherwise you wouldn’t have been able to keep up with me like that.”

Bitty blushed, looking down at his toes. “I used to be a figure skater.” After a pause - “I’m sorry I lied.”

“Why would you lie about it?” 

Bitty’s face turned redder. “...I wanted you to hold my hand.”

He braced himself for whatever angry rebuke was coming. He didn’t expect to hear playful, lighthearted laughter. 

“That is one of the cutest things I’ve ever heard,” Jack said. 

Bitty lifted his head. “You’re not mad?”

“Why would I be mad? Now that I know you can skate, I want to see you do a jump, or something.” He crossed his arms. “I, uh, I don’t know a whole lot about figure skating.”

“Okay, um…” Bitty thought for a moment. “Okay. Watch this.” 

Bitty skated away, building speed as he went. He inhaled deeply, and pushed off, launching himself into a triple loop. His muscle memory kicked in, and he landed gracefully. 

With a sigh of relief, he realized he had a huge grin plastered on his face. He skated back to Jack, practically glowing with excitement.

“That was incredible,” Jack said.

Bitty’s shoulders bunched up to his ears. “Thanks. I can’t believe I didn’t fall. It’s been years since I last skated.”

“Do you miss it?” 

“Figure skating?”

“Yeah.”

“Sometimes,” Bitty admitted. “I loved the feeling when you land the jump you’ve been having trouble with for ages, or when you complete a routine and you know you did really well.” 

Jack nodded. “If you ever want to get back into it, let me know. My hockey team practices here all the time, so the staff knows me. I’m sure we could book you in.”

“I… Thank you. You’ve been so sweet to me tonight and I just.” Bitty swallowed down the lump rising in his throat. “I feel like I owe you for all the nice things you’ve done for me.” 

Jack grinned. “Well, you did mention a pie?”

  


* * *

  


_Your hands on my hips  
And my kiss on your lips  
Oh, I could do this for a lifetime_

Normally, Jack wouldn’t have started a conversation out of the blue, especially not with a stranger. But, when he’d approached the bar, he’d spotted a cute blond guy and been struck by how sad he looked.

He’d decided then and there it was going to be his mission to cheer him up.

At first, he couldn’t tell if Eric was politely trying to figure out how to leave, with his constant fidgeting and inability to meet Jack’s eyes. 

He’d realized, after catching Bittle looking at him, that he was nervous. Admittedly, showing up to an empty hockey rink in the middle of the night with someone you’d only just met was odd, but he wanted Bittle to loosen up and enjoy himself. Skating always helped Jack clear his mind, so he thought it might work for Bittle too.

It seemed to work once he got him on the ice. It was a shaky start, literally, but they eased into it, found a rhythm, and Jack saw his own happiness reflected in Bittle’s eyes. 

Something changed though, when Jack asked Bitty to do a jump. Maybe it was reliving something extraordinary from the past, if only for a brief moment. Maybe it was the surge of adrenaline from executing a successful jump. Whatever it was, the atmosphere became charged with an intensity that hadn’t been there before. 

When they’d arrived at Bittle’s apartment, they’d discovered that his roommate had eaten the last of the pecan pie. After apologizing profusely and refusing to let Jack leave before he’d had some pie - “You came all this way for pie, and I will not see you off without it” - Bitty sat him at the counter and got to work on a cinnamon apple pie. 

As Jack watched Bitty, the urge to kiss him grew stronger and stronger.

Bitty was humming quietly to himself as he placed strips of dough down into a beautiful lattice crust. The worried creases on his forehead were now smooth, his shoulders relaxed, and he carried a lightness in his movements. Clearly, he was in his element. 

“Do you mind if I look around?” Jack asked to distract himself from the thoughts that were rapidly spiraling out of control.

“Of course not. Be my guest.”

Jack left the kitchen and entered the living room, looking around at the various things decorating the limited space. He peered at the picture frames, trying to place them into some context. 

There was Bitty standing next to who Jack assumed was his mother based on the obvious resemblance. They were in a sunny kitchen, holding two steaming pies. Next to it was a picture of Bitty in a sparkly costume and skates, beaming as he held up a gold medal. Said gold medal was hanging on the wall. 

Jack returned to the kitchen, finished with his mini exploration, and stood behind Bitty, who was placing the pie in the oven.

Bitty straightened up from the oven, brushing his hands together. “That should be ready in about fifteen minutes,” he said. He turned around, and his expression changed into one of surprise when he realized how close they were. 

“Jack…” he started. 

Jack leaned down and kissed Bitty in the tiny kitchen of his tiny apartment, interrupting whatever the end of that sentence was going to be. He heard Bitty’s sharp inhale, felt his hands settle on his hips. 

Jack backed Bitty up until he was pressed gently into the counter. He brought his hands up to Bitty’s neck, fingers curling around his delicate skin. 

They broke apart when the timer went off, startling them both. 

“Alright, alright I hear you,” Bitty said, pressing a quick kiss to Jack’s lips before sliding off the counter and pulling on his oven mitts. “Go sit on the couch and see if there’s anything good on TV.”

Following Bitty’s instructions, Jack went into the living room and turned on the TV. At this hour, not much was on, but the cartoon channel was playing old episodes of _Scooby Doo._

He watched a vampire chase the Mystery Gang around a castle for a few minutes, until he was joined by Bitty, who passed him a plate.

“Bon appétit,” he said.

Jack’s eyes widened. “Do you speak French?”

Bitty’s cheeks pinked. “No. I took some classes in college and I was awful at it.”

“Maybe I could teach you sometime.”

“If you teach French the same way you teach how to skate, I’m not sure I’ll learn much,” Bitty teased. 

“Well,” Jack set down his plate, pulling Bitty onto his lap, “I’ll only teach you the important stuff.”

He kissed Bitty again, tasing the sugar on his lips. Bitty’s arms looped around Jack’s neck, bringing them even closer.

They only stopped kissing once the first hint of dawn seeped in through the window, and Bitty, though he was ecstatic, felt the weight of fatigue settling in his bones.

He pulled a blanket off the back of the couch, and wrapped him and Jack in it. He lay down, and Jack shifted so he was loosely curled around him. Bitty flipped over so they were lying face to face. 

“I had a really nice time tonight,” Bitty whispered.

“That was the goal,” Jack whispered back. 

The corners of Bitty’s eyes crinkled as he smiled. He yawned and let his eyes drift shut. He listened to Jack’s rhythmic breathing until he slipped into a deep sleep.

Later Jack left, with the rest of the cinnamon apple pie, and a promise that they would see each other again.

**Author's Note:**

> i forgot exactly how i got this idea, but i think i heard this song and then thought of jack and bitty. honestly, this will most likely be one of the few things i write for this ship, because i find it hard to write them? idk, if it's like super out of character, oh well. 
> 
> when i was writing this, i kept thinking of writingonpostcards (aka 17piesinseptember on tumblr) because i know georgia likes zimbits, so i thought i'd gift it to her (if you use other pronouns, please let me know so i can change them)
> 
> you know i had to reference dex/nursey because i cannot help myself
> 
> tumblr [@omgdexnursey](https://omgdexnursey.tumblr.com/)


End file.
